Page 90 of Omega's Fever

His gaze meets mine and he smirks.

“Mr. Warren,” he says conversationally, like we’re meeting at a dinner party. “You have been a right pain in my ass.”

Kellen roars, lunges for him. Two men intercept, drive him back. He fights like something wild, all rage and desperation, but there are too many.

“The evidence is gone,” I call through the cracked door. “Uploaded. Backed up. The prosecutor has everything.”

Cobb sighs, steps carefully through the wreckage. “Yes, I gathered as much. You’ve given me quite the mess to clean up and I’m starting with you.” Cobb nods to his men. “Finish it.”

They converge on Kellen. He fights—God, how he fights. Every dirty trick, every brutal technique learned in a lifetime of violence. One man goes down clutching his throat. Another screams as fingers find his eyes.

But there are too many.

Vaughn gets behind him, loops an arm around Kellen’s throat. A sleeper hold. Kellen thrashes, tries to break free, but two more men grab his arms.

“No!” I slam against the broken door, splinters digging into my palms. “Stop! Please!”

Cobb turns to me, head tilted like a bird. “You know, I was going to make this clean. Professional. But you had to make things difficult.”

He pulls out a gun. Small, silver, almost delicate.

“I think we’ll start with the omega.”

Everything slows down.

Cobb raises the gun, aims through the gap in the door. At me.

Kellen makes a sound I’ve never heard before. Pure anguish. Pure rage. He breaks free, throws Vaughn off like he weighs nothing.

He moves faster than should be possible.

The gun fires.

But Kellen’s there. Between me and the bullet. The impact spins him half around. Blood blooms across his chest, spreading like spilled wine.

“No!” The word tears from my throat.

Kellen hits the floor hard, but somehow it doesn’t keep him down. I catch sight of his face. I’ve never seen such pure fury. He twists on his heel and lunges forward. His huge body blocks my view of what comes next, but I see the spray of blood and the scream that is suddenly cut off, and then another.

It’s only then that he falls and doesn’t get up.

For a brief moment, there is nothing but silence. Kellen is on the floor, Penelope is sobbing behind me. Damon is on the floor, rising to his hands and knees, the bodies of two of Cobb’s men beside him.

Then there are sirens. Finally, sirens.

I shove through the ruined door, splinters tearing my hands and drop to my knees beside Kellen.

There is so much blood, spreading in a dark pool beneath him.

“No, no, no.” I press my hands to the wound, try to stem the flow. The blood is hot, soaking through my fingers. “Kellen, look at me. Look at me!”

His eyes flutter open. Unfocused. Glazed with pain.

“Milo.” Just my name, barely a whisper.

“I’m here. I’m right here.” Tears blur my vision. “You’re going to be okay. Help’s coming. You’re going to be okay.”

He tries to lift his hand. I catch it, press it to my cheek.